Rosedown Plantation: In The Butler’s Pantry

Pssst: My content area is wider now here at the blog… so horizontal photos are going to look a lot bigger/better. Yipee! But, I have a question for you about the size of the vertical pictures. You’ll find that question part way down in the post. Please leave a comment answering the question regarding the size of the vertical pics you’ll see in this post. Let me know what you think. What you say will have an impact on the size of the pictures I use, so please share your thoughts.

Rosedown Plantation: The Butler’s Pantry

Things are starting to wind down here with the work being done on the porch and decks. The house and decks have been pressured washed, the porch has been painted, the chimney corner pieces were replaced (no more woodpecker damage) and one deck has been painted. I think all they have left now is to paint the chimney, the other deck and the pergola overhead. They are sanding the pergola now as I type this and it’s deafening here in the office above that deck. Be glad when the sanding is done.

With so much going on this week, I didn’t get a chance to create a table setting so I thought it would be fun to take you inside the Butler’s Pantry in Rosedown Plantation. Rosedown is in St. Francisville, Louisiana and it was the home of Daniel & Martha (Barrow) Turnbull. The Turnbulls named their home after a play they saw while on their honeymoon. Rosedown was once a huge cotton plantation with 3,455 acres of land.

You may remember, we toured the dining room in this previous post: Dining in Rosedown Plantation. I’ll share a lot more about Rosedown when I take you on a tour of the home in a later post, but for today, we’re headed to the Butler’s Pantry.

The Butler’s Pantry is always a room that’s near and dear to my heart. Such beautiful cabinetry in this room!

See those papers spread out on the counter. You’ll be seeing those close up in just a sec. I need your help reading some of them. Some are pretty easy to read, others are a challenge. Maybe you can help. I’d love to know what they say!

Look at that old flatware. I’m not sure if those are Bakelite handles, bone or the white one may even be ivory. If it is, I’m glad they don’t make them from ivory anymore.

Here’s another side of the Butler’s Pantry.

Okay, here’s that picture question I had for you: Are vertical photos like this one below and the one a few pictures up, too long for you to view?

If the vertical pics are too long, I can reduce them down, but then the whole photo will be a fair amount smaller, not just the length. I know a lot of folks have BIG monitors these days so wasn’t sure if I should enlarge the vertical pics to be the full width of my content area, which makes them really tall, or keep them smaller. Let me know what you think.

A closer view…

The Butler’s Pantry has so many doorways. There’s one going to the dining room, one going to another room, one going outside and one going up a back staircase that was used by the staff back in the day. With that many doors into this room, the cabinetry for this Butler’s Pantry was built into the various corners of the room.

Lovely examples of the various dishware/china used here in Rosewood back in its heyday.

Okay, remember the papers we saw spread out on the counters? I tried to take some close-ups in the limited lighting available. It’s always hard to take photos on tours because the guides are moving the group along pretty quickly and this particular tour had a large group of folks attending.

So now that I’ve whined and made excuses for my less than stellar photography, let’s look at some of the papers. Martha Turnbull’s grocery list looks a little different from the one I usually take to Publix each week. I’m guessing this was what she purchased when hosting a dinner party or grand gala. That’s a lot of food, isn’t it?

This one came out a bit blurry. I sharpened it several times so I think we can read it. It a cake recipe and it says “By the Misses Bowman of Rosedown.” If you like, I can type it out in the plugin I use for sharing recipes and add it to this post so you can print it out. Let me know if that is something you would like. I can see it well enough to do that if I enlarge it on my computer.

Instructions

This cake is delicious served as a pudding with a rich sauce made by boiling 2 cups of water thickened with cornstarch, then adding a large spoonful of butter and half a cup of sugar.

Add wine if desired after it cools.

Notes

A note was added to this recipe and it read:Note: This recipe is taken from an early cookbook. Feliciana Recipes, published by Grace Episcopal Church. This information was found in Ann Butlers: More Than a Cookbook and eclectic collection. Copyright 1988.

Found this photo online HERE and it shows the family, so the above recipe belonged to one of the Bowman ladies (sisters) shown below. Actually, maybe it belonged to all four sisters since the recipe says it was shared by the “Misses” of Rosedown. That sounds plural, doesn’t it?

This grouping of papers here in the butler’s pantry looked so interesting. I tried to snap a few pics to see if we could decipher it.

Can you read any of it? Not sure why some of the papers have writing going both ways. Maybe the originals bled onto each other. Update: You guys are so smart! Several folks cleared up the sideways writing in the comments saying paper was expensive and hard to come by back then so sometimes folks wrote in both directions. Can you imagine trying to read it! Maybe they used two different color inks or something to help. We just take paper for granted and it was practically a luxury back then.

Okay, I left this picture below really big so try zooming in to read it. It shouldn’t go blurry since I left it large. You can zoom in by hitting Ctrl + on your keyboard, then click Ctrl 0 (that’s the number zero, not the letter) when you’re done.

Here’s another one for our perusal today. It looks like it may be a bit easier to read.

Hope you enjoyed a peek inside the butler’s pantry at Rosedown Plantation. Let me know your thoughts on the length of the vertical pictures in this post…too long or do you love them? I think you’re going to like the wider content area of the blog. It will really help make the horizontal pics like this one below a much nicer size than before.

Looking forward to all the beautiful tablescapes posted for this week’s Tablescape Thursday!

If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then copy and paste the address showing in the address bar, into the “url” box when you link up.

You’ll need to include a link in your post back to the party in order to link up and participate. That’s so visitors to your blog will be able to find the party and the other Tablescape Thursday participants. Requiring a link back also prevents businesses from linking up to sell their products. (Yep, that really happens, unfortunately.)

If you would like to use the Tablescape Thursday logo button in your post, just copy and paste it to your computer and upload it to your post as you would any photo.

Please, don’t add your post name/blog name ALL IN CAPS…it tends to create big spaces between the rows of links.

Click on the Blue Frog below to see the links to all the participants in last week’s Tablescape Thursday:

What a treasure and how fun to see the original lists and notes. Those could have been thrown away so many times over but they add so much to understanding the home. Fun tour, thanks for taking us along and good luck with the cleaning and painting of the porch.

A lot of people view blogs from their phones or iPads, so the larger photos are not really in total view on the screen. Right now I’m on my iPad and had that issue with the vertical pictures. From what I’ve heard (and from personal experience) most people don’t read blogs from a desktop.

Was it difficult to change your screen so the pics are larger? Did you do it yourself?

No, I don’t touch my code. My blog would vanish if I did, never to be seen again! I had a developer/techy guy make the changes…don’t have a clue how to do that stuff. Thanks for letting me know. I will pull it up on my iPad too. I was wondering how it was going to be on mobile devices. I read blogs on my desktop but that’s because I’m always working in my office, but I know more and more folks are using mobile these days. I’ll have to see how it looks on my phone, too.

What a wonderful butler’s pantry. I love the arched top glass doors. The papers look like my lists when I’m having a dinner party! I have to write down everything so that I won’t forget to get something out that I’m serving. I did that once, and I hated that I had prepared something and not served it, so now I make sure everything gets served. Susan, I use larger pix on my blog, and I do post vertical pix smaller. I always think about people who are reading on an i-phone or some other portable device. On my screen, I can see almost the entire length of your vertical pix without scrolling, but if I’m looking at your logo, I can’t see the top of the pix. Love your larger pix. laurie

Loved seeing these pics! The house I grew up in had a butler’s pantry. Although I miss it, my auntie still has one in her apartment in a historic building in Chicago. Butler’s pantries are from an age when life was more formal. I long for a bit of that formality to return. It was always so much fun helping my Mom set pretty tables from her treasures gathered from the butler’s pantry. Thank you from bring back such happy memories.

The vertical photos were longer than my screen. My screen is 13″ from top to bottom.

Also, don’t know if it’s just me: when I click on the tablescape photos from those who joined today’s blog party, I can link to the bloggers’ web sites, but none of the photos appear (just blank white squares with a litte red “x” in one of the upper corners). This is true for multiple bloggers who have already linked up to BNOTP.

Elena, I wonder if you may be accidentally clicking on the “Pin it” button that is popping up over each photo. I’ll take a look at that plugin feature and see if I can make it not put a pin it button over the picture links of the folks participating in the party. Thanks for letting me know! My screen is only 9 inches from top to bottom…and I hate it. I can’t wait to get bigger monitors. The large ones are pretty inexpensive and wonderful…on my wish list.

Elena, I figured out how to turn off the pin it button that was showing up over the individual party picture links. Try clicking on one now and tell me if it works okay for you. I hope that fixed it. If that didn’t work, you may need to clear your cache on your browser. It may be too full to display more photos. That can happen if you haven’t cleared it in a while. I haven’t had anyone else mention that problem so far, so it may be something with your browser. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your response, Susan. I shut everything down on my computer then re-started it. Voila!! I can see all the lovely photos now! It’s amazing how many computer problems can be solved by simply turning the darn thing off and on again. Have a great day. :0)

The photos are perfect. I prefer the servant areas in mansions. Elegant is not make taste. So thank you for showing the pantry. I love it as well. When we toured the Biltmore estate, I spent most of my time in the kitchen and servants garters. To be honest ,the back porch and the library were my favorite. Thank you for sharing . I appreciate it,
Lani

I read blogs from both my desktop and my iPad. One negative for the iPad is it takes a lot longer to scroll through the post, but the picture quality is quite good. I’m with you about not touching the code. I leave that to my blog designer. I found out early how I could screw things up so I’m a hands off in that department! 🙂

I like the vertical format, I could scroll down the picture taking in the detail as I went. I like that. Also, who is able to transcribe the letter? I get the impression it’s about Will and Dan who are two dear little boys. I would love to peek into her past!

Hi Susan;
Lovely post, I so enjoyed seeing the plantation and butlers pantry. I wish people would entertain more often in this day and age. But everyone is so busy today, they miss the fun of a good dinner party! Today it is come on over for hamburgers on the grill, which is fun too. But what about a nice dinner with good dishes and silver, we do that mostly on a holiday. Anyway, I vote no for the longer pics. I too have to scroll down to see the whole pic. It is more of a close up but somehow the proportion seems to be thrown off. The very last pic of the house was perfect, enjoyed that one very much. I have a mac books, just thought I would throw that in if it makes any difference. Good luck on your sanding, be sure to keep all the windows closed lol. When it is done, it will be well worth it. How is that adorable grandbaby of yours?? My granddaughter Lindsey is due today with her second child. Her first boy is 5 already! This one is a girl, she just can’t wait for baby to be born, she is huge. Blessings! Love and Hugs, Doreen

I was just going to add that same fact, but then found someone else already had. I learned about it in Jane Austen’s Emma, wherein Jane (the character)’s aunt says that when Jane (who was very poor) wrote letters, she wrote small “and crossed twice” (once at right angles to the prior writing, and a second time at a forty-five degree angle – this was explained in a footnote), so that only the younger aunt could read the letters. I can hardly imagine the headache – or being too poor to afford paper :(.

Susan, one of the Little House books talks about Laura’s Ma writing to family and writing two directions to save money on the postage weight. In the book, as I recall, she even contemplated writing a third time on the diagonal. Sorry I don’t remember which of the books it was in. How fun to see an actual sample.

*Swoon* I love a Butler’s Pantry! They are imminently sensible. We had one in the house I grew up in. It was very cozy and one of my favorite places. I wish I had one now!

I like the vertical pictures, Susan. I don’t have any problems viewing them, but as you suggested, I have a large screen. I didn’t notice a difference with the horizontal pictures, funnily enough. Whichever way you decide to go, I’ll be content. 🙂

What a pretty Butler’s Pantry. I could fill that up! I have one, but a perfect one for me would be 4 of those closets. Too many dishes. — I am using my iPad but love your large photos. They do not have to fit the screen when one scrolls down. Thanks Susan for sharing your tour. Such a pretty home.

I also had to scroll to see the entire picture on my laptop but, especially with this post, it enhanced the photos. They gave us a better idea of the tallness of those cabinets! All I could think of was, “WOW! They are huge and beautiful!!” I like the larger format when viewing photos. You can see detail better, however, I don’t view them too much from my iPhone. Thanks for the tour and thanks for hosting! Hope you get your outside chores finished and everything back in order soon!

I like the vertical format, I could scroll down the picture taking in the detail as I went. I like that. Also, who is able to transcribe the letter? I would love to peek into her past! This is what I have so far on one of the letters:

“Willis and Dan are two dear little boys and if we could have them to ourselves they would be a credit to us but she will have her way – it is hard to get along with her- I do hope next summer Pa and Mrs and your little family will come. I know you and I will go hand and hand together and little Martha will be charmed? by all that would see her. Grand Ma can boast? of no one else but that child. I feel __ had seen their dear little creatures but if that come up to Pa and Ma’s description of her she must be too ___ to like. >>>>>baby..the wish for her to show her off. Dan ___ is father__remember Aunt wants to see her. I feel as if she was my grand child at least. I see no little___ from outside everything is_________The company are now nearly all leaving. I have not heard Uncle say yet when he will leave. Caro is disgusted as she is with every thing she is never satisfied. She is crazy to go to New York. ___ Does not seem to think your pa can __ in for Aut M’s health. But she______to be gratified in all her ____.

Bethany Louis?? has come but M have given down?? to will not bath today as her ankles have given out it seems to agree with B and A better than Mary ____ _____ father? enjoys driving here very much. I went in to_______room to see when pkg would send her letter and I can’t see how she writes. I am in confusion enough but to see Willis and Dan pulling her things in all directions as Caro sitting like a gr_____ saying not a word to them. I have to come away; I know it is not my place to speak.
I hope you have all keep well during this summer and wish you had some of this air to____ you all.______Mathew and Judy_____________always give my love to_____________who I am sorry to hear is not looking so well from old lady must must feel very lonely.”

That may say “& little Martha would be remembered by all who would see her.” Almost looks like, “I see no little skirts (or shirts?) then the next word after that starts with a p I think because she makes her p’s that way. It kind of looks like the word proof. So it could say something like, “I see no little skirts, proof_______everything is trickery.” Ummm, okay I’ll work on it somemore.

Susan,
Your photos are coming in on my computer screen, quite nicely.
As I scrolled over each photo to look at detail, the photo becomes
white and a red P appears (Pintrest) which doesn’t allow viewing
for details of your photo. . .bummer.
The blotching of the papers possibly comes from the elimination
of an ink blotter during the original writing. Due to reason stated
above I was unable to get a close look at the message, so I’m taking
a “shot in the dark(white)” here and saying these writings possibly
came for the staff. The lady of the house would certainly had a blotter.
During our Military travels, we toured many a Mansion and Historicial
Homes. I adore the crown moulding, base trims and that door with the
transom above has my heart skipping a beat, or two!
Thank you for hosting Tablescape Thursday each week!!!
L00king forward to viewing a new tablescape on your “freshened” porch!
Fondly,
Pat

Pat, it turns white I think to just let you know you can pin it. Just move your curser off to the right (or left if you’re left handed and it will should turn normal again so you can see the picture. Sorry that’s so confusing.

Hi, Susan,
Love your pictures of the butler’s pantry, something every tablescaper should have!! I have a MacPro laptop and do have to scroll down to see vertical pictures, but do not consider it a problem. It gives me a better chance to look at the details of the picture! Rosie

I like the new size of the pictures, I love to see the photos bigger. I have tried to decipher the first letter, so here it is:
Will & Dan are two dear little boys & if we could take them to ourselves, they would be a credit to us, but the _____ home has ___ and it is hard to get along with them. I do hope ___ sincere PA (Pennsylvania) and I miss your little family will cry and I know you will go hand & hand together and little Martha would be remembered by all who would see her ____ in a ____ to them if no one else but that child. I feel as if ___ had seen the dear little creation but if ___ comes up to PA I must get a description of her, she must be too sweet to leave ____ us ___ ___ we wish for Mary to show him off. Sam (?) ____ his Father Ailph (?) her Aunt, wants to see her. I feel as if often was my grandchild at least. I see no little shirts (or skirts) front waisted everything is tucked. No company anymore ___ all leaving. I have not heard Uncle say yet when we will leave. Caro is disgusted as she is with everything never satisfied she is craving to go to New York does not seem to think your PA can be good for Aunt M’s health, but she will go to be gratified in all her whims. M’s niece has come but not bothered today as her ankles have given out and seems to agree with B & A better than Mary. Amos (?) has fatten everyone down here ___ ___ I sent him to first M’s room to see when Jake would send her better and I cannot see how she wished. I am in confusion enough, but to see Willis & Dan ___ her things in all directions and Caro sitting like a queen saying not a word to them, I have to come away; I know it is not my place to speak. I hope you have all kept well during the summer and with you had some of this __ to ___ this you and A’s ___ Ms Matthwes and ____ home ___ Always give my love to Mr M & Ms. L ____ who I am sad to hear is not looking to well from old lady must feel very lonely,

Charlotte, this is great! I loved reading it! Really makes you feel more of a connection to them, so interesting to see what her concerns were. I wonder if this was a letter written by one of the Bowman daughters or by Martha. I need t see if I can find out.

I agree with Debbie and misfit, the crossover helped to save on paper (a luxury). I thought at first it was a elder of papers then read on and felt I was eavesdropping on someones personal correspondence. Yet I read my grandfather-in-law’s ledger and it seemed personal, as well. They tried to make sure we knew what was going on at the time, I guess. The picture is crisp and clear to observe. Thank you!

Thanks, Brenda! After Julie deciphered some of the words and I figured a few more, I sort of feel like I know her a bit better, she feels real. I guess the letter is by Martha, at least the first one with the double writing on it. I was thinking how similar she sounded to the way folks talk today, worrying about other family members, not knowing how much she should say or not say. Some problems in life never change, even from century to century. 🙂

I wish I could edit back. (Silly me) by not editing it prior. I meant ledgers are awesome to read from the past! There are customs that have departed and when you read about them in personal ledgers, letters memoirs or (if you find) journals the most important historical of nuances show up.

The vertical pics are a little big, but it doesn’t bother me at all. I like the larger pics and the ability to see more detail.
Love those old letters…such pretty penmanship – A skill severely lacking in today’s society! 🙂

Soooo true. I heard they were even planning on dropping cursive and no longer teaching it. I hope that doesn’t happen. Makes me sad to think of that. I couldn’t wait to learn to write in cursive when I was in school!

Hi Susan:
The photos are no problem for me, as I read this blog on my p.c. except when away, then use my e-reader or phone.
The butlers pantry is a dream. I had a walk-in pantry in my previous home and miss it, but those cabinets are to die for.
The grocery list made me smile, there was enough to feed an army, never mind 30 people!!! 🙂
From what I could make out in the first letter, the writer was complaining about the behaviour of some children who had come to stay. Well, that was my take on it anyway!! 🙂
Thank you for taking us there today, very interesting. If I had been there, I would have read every single word. My hubby is always way ahead of me on a tour as I have to take in every detail! 🙂

Ok, several things to say here. First, I too love Butler’s Pantries and the one you’ve shown is delightful. Love the light cabinetry and of course the glass paned doors. Love the vignette with the jams and such, as well. What’s most interesting to me is that the shopping list and recipe are not hand written and are done in a printed font, unlike the other pages. Given the aged paper, I’m guessing they are not originals but were printed after on aged paper using a sepia toned ink. Do you know when they are from?

As for your question about the vertical photos, I have a few comments. First, on my screen (13″ Macbook Pro) they are a bit long but worth the scroll to have the horizontal pics larger. As a graphic designer, it drives me crazy when people post blog photos that are not the same width. Given the organized layout of your blog (bravo!), that’s all the more true. I was taught that all photos should be 700px wide. The height will default based on how you cropped the photo, but if they’re all 700px wide, they will be perfectly aligned and not take up too much memory on the host’s server. If reducing in photoshop, make sure to use the bicubic sharpener setting so as not to lose quality. (You may know all of this but posting for the benefit of others, as well… :-)).

For those viewing on a iPad or phone, the larger vertical photos are perfect because they can orient their screen vertically. It’s only on a laptop (or desktop if anyone still has one… ;-)) that the length would be an issue. But even then, anyone can reduce the size of the screen (at least on a Mac) by hitting Command – so the entire photo would be in view.

Finally, you can always play with the aspect ratio of the photos so your vertical photos are not so extreme in length (I like 8×10 which is a little wider than some other ratios). As long as everything has the same pixel width, they will all line up on the blog.

Lory, thanks for all these tips! My content was 650 px wide before and now it’s 700. 650 was the widest the developer who moved my blog would make my blog at the time. She insisted on that width saying folks would have scroll side to side otherwise. The developer/tech person I use now thought 700 was a great idea…maybe because a lot of folks have wider screens. Anyway, I like that so much more, especially for the horizontal pics.
I like the pics to be the same size, too. I’m sure occasionally some I’ll be using will still be 650 since they are already being used on the blog and from time to time I pull form the older pics. I wish I still had the originals on some of them, like the pics of the bluebirds in the dovecote…I could post those nice and large now. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have the originals anymore.
I just started reducing the dpi in addition to the size of my pics a while back. I don’t have a program that will batch process that so it takes forever! The photoshop I have isn’t the expensive version so it won’t let me set up an action for that. Thanks again for all these tips…will read back through them again.
Oh, about the sharpening. I hate using the auto sharpen tool in my non-professional version of Photoshop. (I have Photoshop Elements 10.) I wasn’t sure how to sharpen and not get that over-sharpened look. I’ve discovered recently the unsharp mask function and have been using it at 50-70% which seems to sharpen without too badly oversharpening everything. I wonder where I can find the bicubic sharperner. I bet my version doesn’t have it.

Susan, I am reading your post on a mobile device and all the photos look fine. I never tire of seeing kitchens, pantries., and tablescapes. Thank you for this, and for hosting the link party. I always enjoy it whether I join or not. This week I’m sharing my vintage Quimper Soleil, a nice match for the sunny location where my family & I are vacationing right now.
Rita

Dear Susan,
I so enjoy your blog, especially the tablescapes and flea market shopping finds. I looked at the tablescapes posted this morning, but when I tried to look again to see what was new, the thumbnails were gone and I don’t seem to have a “blue frog” to click on. What do I need to do in order to see the posted tablescapes from participants? Sorry to bother you, but I do look forward to the tablescapes.
Blessings,
Judith Jones

Judith, thanks so much for letting me know they were missing. I went back into the post and added a printable version of the recipe and apparently the script got corrupted or something and the links disappeared. Inlinkz is really funny that way sometimes. Sorry the blue frog thing is confusing. It’s only works for finding the links on previous weeks of Tablescape Thursday. The current weeks should always be visible. Thanks so much for letting me know they had vanished. I was so busy adding the recipe and one more photo, I hadn’t noticed yet. They are back now. 🙂

A butler’s pantry is my secret dream 🙂 Your vertical photos are large, I have to scroll to view the whole thing, but they look great~
I got a huge kick out of the grocery list and the recipe calling for “fairly brown sugar!” Thanks Susan for the Thursday fun!

And what about the “1 pint milk, slightly sour.” Guess they couldn’t run down to Publix for a carton of buttermilk. 🙂 I don’t even know what citron is. I looked it up online but have never used that fruit. Wonder if someone will try to make this cake. If they do, I hope they post about it! It didn’t say what temperature to cook the cake, just said 2 hours, so I guess it cooks on a low temp, probably lower than 350 degrees.

The vertical pics are fine. My PC has a large screen… I always read blogs on my PC so I can enjoy them better

I am quite curious; in the photo of the Rosedown family, there is a photo of George K. Shotwell (husband of Eliza Bowman) but Eliza is not shown.
I attended the Eliza Bowman Methodist School in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The school was a mission of the Methodist Church in the states. I wonder if the school was named after this particular Eliza Bowman!!!

Wish I lived in a place like that back then! Even here there are great homes from those days and the ladies wore such beautiful long dresses and had many maids too! The butler’s pantry is gorgeous, we could still have one. We did in our past home, now we haven’t the space, lol! Thanks for sharing dear Susan, I loved this post. Gonna go back and look again!
Thanks for hosting this great party. Hope you can come over and see what I bought!
Hugs,
FABBY

If you’re going to cook and have sets of dishware? I’m thinking that a butler’s pantry is actually a necessity. Storing dishes, especially serving platters, covered dishes, pitchers, crystal etc could be damaged if they have to be crammed into a cabinet. I love that the room isn’t utilitarian. The cabinets are trimmed out. Nice to see..
As for the photos —
If it means that I get to see more details in a photo, I don’t mind if the photos are longer. If they’re longer and wider? Eh maybe it’s difficult.

I am reading on an iPad. No special settings as far as I know and the photos are great. I don’t have to scroll for the vertical ones, everything fits on my screen. The horizontal are so much nicer this size too.
I wonder if some people have their font set larger for easy reading and that makes the photos too big. I have no computer knowledge so just a guess.

Hi Susan. I enjoyed your post. The house I presently live in has a tiny kitchen where the powder room was once the Pantry. No Butler’s Pantry. I would be in hog heaven if my house had a Butler’s Pantry. GaGa.
Blessings to you. So glad you blog.
d

I liked the size of the vertical position photos. My desktop monitor has a viewing area of approximately 11″. The pictures were missing maybe a half-inch at the top and bottom but nothing a mouse wheel turn wouldn’t solve. I liked the larger viewing area with more details able to be seen. Nice of you to ask for our opinions.

Like always your post are perfect. I enjoy everything you do! The Butler’s Pantry reminded me of my Grandmother’s home. I love her closets also, you go in to the next room ( secret passage I thought), and I always thought it was magic. These older homes are just amazing. Thanks & Blessings sent your way!

Judith, I can see them…clear your cache. A few minutes ago I changed something in the recipe…and they disappeared…but I put the code back. There is something about the plugin for recipes that isn’t working well with InLinkz…and each time I do anything to the recipe, the links vanish. But I did put them back and I can see them. Can you see them now?

I read your blog everyday, on an HP 17 inch laptop computer.
So not everyone uses a Ipad or phone to read blogs.
I did have to scroll down to see all of the larger photos but it wasn’t a problem.
I do hope you can find an easy solution to the hole in your dovecote.
Can’t wait to see proch all painted and refreshed.
Linda
Just thought I say love your parties and blog hops I try to read the majority of them.
I found Liz at. Infuse with Liz. Her garden is beautiful.

I love the big pictures! Being a visual person I love the clarity and just seeing everything better. Maybe my eyes aren’t good! No the bigger the better! I have two blogs because my wordpress blog can give me huge pictures but I haven’t figured out how to successfully code the photos in very large on my blogger blog.

I have copies of old letters my greatgrandparents wrote and they wrote like that too! It makes it very hard to read.

I agree with Julie in that I like the vertical photos in their current size because they allow me to scroll down taking in the detail that might not be seen in a smaller picture. Please keep this sizing. Enjoy the letters, pictures and recipe as they gave an insight into the family who lived and loved in this beautiful home. I would love to tour this home if I am ever in the area. Thanks again for sharing some many wonderful home with us all. Jill

I read your blog on a desktop computer with a 26″ monitor. Even if I were using my laptop, I’d still connect this monitor to it…along with my keyboard and mouse but that’s another issue!
Yes, the vertical images were longer than my screen (I use IE 11 with 125% zoom) but I appreciate seeing the detail. If I really wanted to view the entire image, I’d just change the zoom level.

I have a desk top with a twenty inch monitor and I did have to scroll down to see the entire picture. OK for catching the architectural details but I don’t think I would like having to scroll down to be able to see all of a tablescape. I love the butler’s pantry. We had an old home built in the early 1900’s that had a nice size butler’s pantry. The room was about 8″ x 8″ more or less. The cabinets were all built in from floor to ceiling. I loved having the storage.

Hi Susan,
The larger pics are nice but they are hard to see all at once. I have to scroll down to see it all.

Loved seeing the butlers pantry at Rosedown. Lovely photos and so neat to see things from bygone eras.
Hope this find you doing well hon, and hope they finish your porch area soon………..know you must
be getting excited, and can’t wait to see the results………..

I don’t have a really large monitor, but I’m still able to see the vertical view pretty easily. Just have to move my mouse a bit to see the bottom of the photo. I like them big like this.

I would be SO happy if I had a butler’s pantry like this!!! I have been rallying for one in the area between our dining room and kitchen that currently is the laundry area. (How stupid! Men and their stupid layout plans!) That area also has a door that leads to the garage, so it would be the PERFECT spot for a butler’s pantry so that groceries could be stored without having to lug them very far from the garage door. But NO! SOMEBODY else who lives here who shall remain nameless doesn’t want to change the current setup. We’ll just see about that! 🙂

We really do take paper, ink and other things for granted these days while they were considered such a luxury back in the day. Even things like sugar, salt, and other condiments were luxuries. Now they throw about 100 sugar packets into your sack when you go through the drive-thru and order coffee!!!

Ha! Alycia, you made me lol with “Men and their stupid layout plans.!” They obviously don’t know how important our dish storage is, do they? Don’t give up…I KNOW this is a battle you are going to win! 🙂 Sooo true about sugar and all those things we have always had available and totally taken for granted. Times have def changed! Wonder what isn’t easily available now that will be in the future. Wish we could see into the future sometimes.

I went to Rosedown twice years ago. The first time it was in pristine condition and the most memorable things to me was a beautiful breakfast set of china on which every piece had a different bird. I coveted it so sinfully. The next time we visited, it was sadly run down and uncared for. Later I read in an antiques journal that the plantation was being sold and its contents were being auctioned. Sometime after that I read that one of the oil companies had bought it. Is that still true? I’ll be anxious to see you interior photos to see if any of the old furnishings are still there.

June, I have some great news for you! When we toured it, it was in excellent condition and I remember they told us that most of the furnishing were original to the house. Catherine Fondren Underwood (an oil heiress) purchased it and completely restored it. I just looked on Wikipedia to refresh my memory and it says it took her 8 years and $10 million to restore the house and gardens. The Louisiana Office of State Parks owns it now. You can read a little more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosedown_Plantation.
I sure am glad Catherine Underwood saved it from ruin. If you get a chance, go back and see it because it’s really beautiful now! I wonder if the dishware you saw was Rothschild Bird by Herend? I first saw that pattern while on an historic home tour, too…and it was love at first site. I was finally able to collect 8 salad plates but it’s too far out of my budget to afford the place settings. As expensive as it is, I’d be terrified of breaking it if I could afford the place setttings. 🙂
You can see the 8 salad plates I’ve collected here: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/tablescaping-with-herend-rothschild-bird-welcome-to-the-80th-tablescape-thursday/
I’d love to know the name of the pattern you saw when you visited. I wonder if it was Rothschild Bird?

Rosedown has always been my favorite plantation! The family history is fascinating. One of the interesting tidbits is the black border around the edge of the inside of the upper balcony – it was painted in honor of the Turnbull’s son who died in childhood! Love history & your blog!

Thanks, Mary! That is so sweet that they did that. Sweet and sad. It would have been so hard to have lived back then when so many children didn’t make it to adulthood. So thankful we have antibiotics and vaccines now. We are truly fortunate.